Princess Mako, the Granddaughter of Japanese Emperor Gives up her Royal Status to Marry a Tourist Beach Worker

Princess Mako, 25, the elder daughter of Prince Akishino and the first grandchild of Japanese Emperor, Akihito, is set to marry a beach tourist worker and a former classmate at her university, Kei Komuro whom she met in a restaurant.

Princess Mako met Komuro about five years ago through a friend at
International Christian University, which they both attended, and later
accepted a marriage proposal from him.

In doing so, she became the first member of the Japanese imperial family
to attend university, according to Mainichi. As part of her arts and
cultural property studies, she attended the University of Edinburgh in
Scotland on an exchange, according to a "Japanese Times" agency source.

It will be the first engagement among the four grandchildren of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. The last marriage of a Japanese princess took place in October 2014 when Princess Noriko, the 28-year-old daughter of Emperor Akihito’s late cousin Prince Takamado, tied the knot with Kunimaro Senge, the eldest son of the chief priest of Izumo Taisha, a Shinto shrine in Shimane Prefecture.

The princess has already introduced Komuro to Prince Akishino, who is the younger brother of Crown Prince Naruhito.

Once married, the princess would be obliged to leave the Imperial family, as stipulated by the Imperial House Law.

Mako's father and her younger brother are in line to succeed Emperor Akihito, after her uncle Crown Prince Naruhito, who is first in line. Even though she will seize been a princess, the process building up to the wedding is likely to take some time and be full of ritual, as Japanese nuptials, especially royal ones, tend to be.

Passersby watch a TV news reporting that Princess Mako, the
granddaughter of Japan's emperor, is getting married to Kei Komuro, in
Tokyo Tuesday, May 16, 2017

After graduating from ICU in 2014, Princess Mako earned a master’s degree in art museum and gallery studies at the University of Leicester in 2016 and now works as a researcher at a museum at the University of Tokyo three days a week as she pursue her doctorate degree program at ICU.